Attic and wall insulation with desiccant
AssigneeCertainTeed Corporation
InventorsMurray S. Toas, Sam Yuan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of reducing the amount of cooling energy required to heat and cool a building is provided. The method includes disposing a porous insulating material in the exterior walls and substantially covering the ceiling in the attic space of the building to a substantial depth. The porous insulating material includes a desiccant. The method further includes permitting the desiccant—bearing porous insulating material to adsorb water moisture from the attic space and then permitting the adsorbed water moisture to desorb from the desiccant—bearing porous insulating material into the enclosed room of the building, resulting in a reduction in the amount of energy required to heat and cool the building.
Claims29
A method of reducing the amount of cooling energy required to cool a building interior, said building having an enclosed room being cooled, said room being partially defined by an outer wall, an upper wall plate, and an attic space disposed above said upper wall plate and further disposed between a ceiling of said room and a roof of said building;
- said method comprising:
- a) disposing a porous insulating material substantially covering a floor in said attic space, said porous insulating material including at least 1 wt-% desiccant, wherein the porous insulating material includes a first layer and a second layer, and the desiccant is disposed in a separate layer between the first layer and the second layer to form a unitary batt;
- b) adsorbing water moisture and releasing heat from the attic space with the desiccant-bearing porous insulating material;
- and
- c) absorbing heat and desorbing the adsorbed water moisture from said desiccant-bearing porous insulation material through said ceiling and into said room being cooled, while the relative humidity in said attic space is higher than the relative humidity in said room being cooled, resulting in a reduction in the amount of heat flux entering said room and reducing the cooling energy required to cool said building interior;
- wherein
- the building is located in a cooling dominated climate;
- the building is air conditioned;
- the attic space has a relative humidity that is during the daylight hours of the day higher than the relative humidity of the room;
- the building experiences an exterior temperature greater than 72° F.;
- and
- whereby the heat flux entering said room is reduced by about 17% to about 29% compared to a control having a same construction as the porous insulating material but without the desiccant.
A method of reducing the amount of cooling energy required to cool a building, the building having an enclosed room partially defined by a wall, a horizontal upper wall plate, and an attic space disposed above the upper wall plate, the attic space defined by a ceiling of the room and a roof of the building, the wall comprising an inner panel and an outer panel with a wall space therebetween, the method comprising:
- a) disposing a first layer and a second layer of porous insulating material so as to substantially fill the wall space with a separate layer comprising a desiccant material disposed in between the first and second layers of porous insulating material that is installed as a unitary batt;
- b) adsorbing water moisture and releasing heat energy with the desiccant material from the wall space;
- and
- c) desorbing and evaporating water moisture and absorbing heat with the desiccant material into the enclosed room, resulting in a reduction in the amount of heat flow from an exterior of the building through the wall space and into the building;
- wherein
- the building is located in a cooling dominated climate;
- the building is air conditioned;
- the building experiences an exterior temperature greater than 72° F.;
- and
- whereby the heat flux entering said room is reduced by about 17% to about 29% compared to a control having a same construction as the porous insulating material but without the desiccant material.
A method of reducing the amount of energy required to heat a building, the building having an enclosed room partially defined by an outer wall, a horizontal upper wall plate, and an attic space disposed above the upper wall plate, the attic space defined by a ceiling of the room and a roof of the building, the method comprising:
- a) disposing a porous, loose fill insulating material in a wall space, the porous, loose fill insulating material includes a first layer and a second layer, and the desiccant is disposed in a separate layer between the first layer and the second layer, wherein the porous, loose fill insulating material includes 1 wt % to 20 wt % desiccant;
- b) adsorbing water and releasing heat with the desiccant-bearing porous, loose fill insulating material from the wall space;
- and
- c) desorbing the adsorbed water moisture and desorbing heat from the desiccant-bearing porous, loose fill insulating material by desorbing the water moisture through the wall so that heat flow from an interior of the building through the wall space to an exterior of the building is reduced;
- wherein
- the building is heated;
- the building experiences an exterior temperature less than 72° F.;
- and
- whereby the heating heat flux leaving the room is reduced by up to about 11% compared to a control having a same construction as the porous, loose fill insulating material but without the desiccant.
A method of reducing the energy required to heat or cool a building interior, the building having an enclosed room partially defined by an outer panel, an inner panel, a wall space between the outer and inner panels, an upper wall plate, and an attic space above the upper wall plate and between a ceiling of the enclosed room and a roof of the building, the method comprising:
- a) disposing a porous insulating material in at least one of the attic space and the wall space, the porous insulating material including a desiccant, wherein the porous insulating material includes a first layer and a second layer, and the desiccant is disposed in a separate layer between the first layer and the second layer;
- b) adsorbing water moisture and releasing heat with the desiccant from said at least one of the attic space and the wall space with the desiccant;
- and
- c) absorbing heat and desorbing the adsorbed water moisture from the desiccant in said at least one of the attic space and the wall space and into the enclosed room, while the relative humidity in said at least on of the attic space and wall space is higher than the relative humidity in the enclosed room, resulting in a reduction in the amount of heat flux entering the enclosed room and reducing the energy required to heat or cool the building interior.
A method of reducing the energy required to heat or cool a building, the building having an enclosed room partially defined by a wall, a horizontal upper wall plate, and an attic space disposed above the upper wall plate, the attic space defined by a ceiling of the room and a roof of the building, the wall having an inner panel and an outer panel with a wall space therebetween, the method comprising:
- a) disposing a first layer and a second layer of porous insulating material in at least one of the attic space and the wall space with a separate layer comprising a desiccant disposed between the first and second layers of porous insulating material;
- b) adsorbing water moisture and releasing heat energy with the desiccant from said at least one of the attic space and the wall space;
- and
- c) desorbing and evaporating water moisture and absorbing heat with the desiccant into the enclosed room, resulting in a reduction in the energy required to heat or cool the building.
A method of reducing the energy required to heat or cool an interior of a building interior, the building having an enclosed room, with the room partially defined by an outer panel, an inner panel and a wall space between the inner and outer panel, a horizontal upper wall plate, and an attic space disposed above the upper wall plate, the attic space defined by a ceiling of the room and a roof of the building, the method comprising:
- a) disposing a porous loose fill insulating material in at least one of the attic space and the wall space, installing a desiccant layer on a surface of the porous loose fill insulation, installing additional porous loose fill insulation on top of the desiccant layer;
- b) adsorbing water moisture and releasing heat energy with from the desiccant layer in said at least one of the attic space and the wall space;
- and
- c) desorbing and evaporating water moisture and absorbing heat from the desiccant layer into the enclosed room, resulting in a reduction in the energy required to heat or cool the building.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.